1698756446 France Stars of David drawn on buildings in Paris

France: Stars of David drawn on buildings in Paris

Paris prosecutors said on Tuesday that they had opened an investigation after Stars of David, a symbol of the Jewish religion and the state of Israel, were discovered on several buildings in the French capital.

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Stars of David were painted using a blue stencil on several facades of buildings in the 14th arrondissement in the south of Paris, an AFP journalist noted on Tuesday.

The investigation, initiated into the damage to the property of others, aggravated by the fact that it was committed on the basis of origin, race, ethnicity or religion, was entrusted to the district police station. , specified the prosecution requested by AFP.

France: Stars of David drawn on buildings in Paris

AFP

This offense is punishable by a maximum prison sentence of four years and a fine of 30,000 euros.

According to the Interior Ministry, 2,500 reports of anti-Semitic acts have been received on the Pharos reporting platform in France since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7th.

On Sunday, French Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti reported more than 400 arrests for these “anti-Semitic acts.”

France: Stars of David drawn on buildings in Paris

AFP

In a press release shared on

“This act of marking is reminiscent of the processes of the 1930s and the Second World War that led to the extermination of millions of Jews,” she denounced.

“There is clearly a desire to cause fear among the people who did this,” the president of the Union of Jewish Students of France (UEJF), Samuel Lejoyeux, told AFP.

Similar signs appeared last weekend in the Paris suburbs – in Vanves, Fontenay-aux-Roses, Aubervilliers and Saint-Ouen – where the stencils were accompanied by slogans such as “From the sea to the Jordan, Palestine will prevail.”

The mayor of Aubervilliers, Karine Franclet, denounced actions that are “in complete contradiction to the fundamental values ​​that we represent (…), especially in the current context” of the war between Israel and Hamas.

The town hall of Saint-Ouen, where the supporters were discovered on Monday, filed a complaint with the public prosecutor’s office. “The perpetrators must be prosecuted and punished by the courts with the utmost severity and intransigence,” commented Mayor Karim Bouamrane on X.

At the same time, the mayor of Petit-Quevilly near Rouen (West), Charlotte Goujon, told the AFP news agency on Tuesday that she had filed a complaint after anti-Semitic markings were discovered in a district last Thursday, some of which were aimed directly at her .